Category: Jordan

Hofdame Bits and Bobs
Denmark · Jordan · Lesotho · Monaco

Hofdame Bits and Bobs

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Well, well, well. Yes a busy royal week is done and dusted. I admit to following the British drama on other blogs and media outlets, but to remain true to our mission here we are turning our eyes to some alternative events. Lot of interesting life going on in other monarchies.

Getty Photos

All the royal photos you missed from the week of January 6th can be found here.

Jordan

OC brought this to the Handbag’s attention, and it’s so touching. Just watch King Abdullah’s face – at times wistful, proud, and joyful – as he pins the aviation flight wings on his daughter, Salma Bint Abdullah, the country’s first female military pilot. This, folks, is a big deal. Hashemite women getting it done, yet again.

Lesotho

I fell down a rabbit hole of Masenate Mohato Seeiso last week. I was unaware that she was the first commoner to marry into the royal family. At some point we will take a look at some of her style choices, since she is a master of mixing elegant Western styles with the traditional clothes of Lesotho. Ambidressterous, in Handbag language.

Monaco

Tatiana Casiraghi did some modeling with her younger son, Maximillian. We don’t see her often in public. It’s an interesting combination, Wickstead and Casiraghi.

Denmark

If you are on Twitter, I highly recommend you follow JR. He’s been a good friend to us and other bloggers, and he is fountain of royal information. He has some interesting background on the photo of Princess Benedikte wearing Queen Desiree’s parure and train (a photo that many of us have come to love).

Oman

Qaboos bin Said Al Said, the Sultan of Oman, died on January 10. He was the longest serving ruler in the Middle East. More about him and his tenure can be found here. Like many other royals, he was trained at Sandhurst and has many friends among the current royal families. Queen Noor, King Felipe, Queen Elizabeth, and many other royals have send condolences.

The funeral has been held, but here is now an official mourning period. Both Prince Charles & King Willem-Alexander are in Oman to pay respects, participate in the official days of mourning, and meet the new sultan. Yes, Charles will fly back to attend to his own royal business on Monday.

What did I miss?

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Hofdame Bits and Bobs
Jordan · Luxembourg · Monaco · Netherlands · Spain

Hofdame Bits and Bobs

The HandbagLeave a comment

This would be more appropriately named “Hofdame Bits and Bobs – Christmas Card Edition”. Let’s get some housekeeping out of the way first.

Housekeeping

As we mentioned before, the blog is on semi-break for the weeks of December 23 and 30, so the Hofdames can focus on real life and Christmas cheer. However, if you do have time to peek in, we have cued up some guest posts, some quick hit posts, and some trivia. There will be something new to see every day.

Instead of Bits and Bobs for the next two weeks, we will have a Community Bits and Bobs, so you can post royal-related news in our absence. Our regular commenting rules apply.

We’ll have an Open Post on Christmas Day for the British after-church service walk and to discuss the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day speeches. There will be an Open Post on News Year’s Day for the Danish and Japanese New Year’s events, which begin on the first. Again, heed the commenting policy, and enjoy!

Getty Photos

Catch up on anything we missed last week!

Photos from all royal houses for last week.
Sophie attended the Sovereign’s Parade looking fabulous in a blue coat.
Japan’s Crown Princely couple are visiting Okinawa.

Newsworthy on the Net

Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie attended the Midi de l’Art.

As part of her birthday celebrations, one of our Queens-in-Training, Catharina-Amalia, co-wrote a musical, and played herself!

Daisy in red and all is good.

The Monaco Twins are five, and Gabriella is showing off some cape action.
Oma comes face to face with a little girl who owns a bigger tiara than she does!

Christmas and New Year’s Greeting Cards

The lovely Jordanian Royal Family wishes you a very Happy 2020. Genetic gifts obviously run in the family.

The Spanish Royal Family released their card, using a photo from the family’s visit to Asiegu earlier this year. I know that everyone likes to see how Sofia-the-Younger is signing her name these days. It seems to me that everyone got into the game and signed with a bit of personality.

© Casa de SM el Rey

Juan Carlos and Sofia-the-Classic also released their card, and I see that zazzy signatures run in the blood.

© Casa de SM el Rey

The Norwegian Royal Family released a lovely red-themed photo.

Victoria, Daniel and a cherry Oscar picked out trees. Bonus – Victoria is wearing one of my favorite suits.

The Cambridge Christmas card.

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall Christmas card.

Note: Not seeing your comment? It’s not you, it’s Disqus! The comments are there, we can see them in our Disqus queue, but they aren’t showing up on the blog. Keep commenting, they will show up later when Disqus resolves their issues!

So what did I miss?

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Quick Quiz – Tiaras, Heirs and Descendants Answers
Belgium · Denmark · Greece · Japan · Jordan · Luxembourg · Monaco · Spain · Sweden

Quick Quiz – Tiaras, Heirs and Descendants Answers

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We keep saying that it’s our Community that provides the backbone to this blog. In an often fact-free royal internet world, the people who comment here are the exception. You proved it by acing the Tiaras, Heirs and Descendants quiz.

Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Royaling – Our Swedish Handbaggers are royal experts. Mrs. Diamond correctly named all the tiaras, heirs and descendants of Queen Victoria in the photo. Extra extra credit to her for Gunilla Bernadotte’s tiara identification.

Extra Credit – Triple Duchess named all of the above, and all the descendants of Christian IX. Bravo to her for “knowing her royal stuff”!

Fun Fact – Of the European royals in the photo, only the Dutch royal family and the Monaco princely families do not have descendants from either Victoria or Christian.

  • Tiaras 
    • Sonja of Norway: Emerald
    • Mette-Marit of Norway: Pearl (small version)
    • Christina of Sweden: Six Button
    • Letitia of Spain: Mellerio Floral
    • Beatrix of the Netherlands: Mellerio Ruby (suspension bridge)
    • Desirée of Sweden: Napoleonic Amethysts
    • Paola of Belgium: Queen Elisabeth’s Art Deco Bandeau
    • Birgitta of Sweden: Nine Prong
    • Margaretha of Sweden: Aquamarine Kokoshnik
    • Madeleine of Sweden: Connaught Forget-Me-Not
    • Gunilla Bernadotte: Lily-of-the-Valley Diamond and Pearl Tiara
    • Victoria: Cameo
    • Benedikte of Denmark: Berleburg Fringe
    • Rania of Jordan: Boucheron Bracelet
    • Silvia: Braganca
    • Mary of Denmark: Ruby Parure
    • Anne-Marie of Greece and Denmark: Ruby Olive Wreath
    • Marie-Thérèse of Luxembourg: Empire
    • Máxima of the Netherlands: Diamond Bandeau
    • Margrethe of Denmark: Pearl Poire tiara
    • Mathilde of Belgium: Laurel Wreath
    • Sofia of Spain: Mellerio Shell
  • Heirs
    • Victoria, Haakon, Frederik, Felipe, Naruhito, Guillaume, Willem-Alexander, Philippe (Bonus second-in-line heirs: Catharina-Amalia, Ingrid Alexandra, and Christian)
  • Descendants of Victoria
    • Sweden: Carl Gustaf and his sisters Margaretha, Desirée, Birgitta, and Christina, Victoria, Madeleine, Carl Philip, and Carl Johan Bernadotte
    • Denmark: Margrethe, Frederik, Christian, Anne-Marie, and Benedikte
    • Norway: Harald, Haakon, Ingrid Alexandra
    • Spain: Sofia, Felipe
    • Greece: Konstantin
  • Descendants of Christian IX
    • Denmark: Margrethe, Frederik, Christian, Anne-Marie, and Benedikte
    • Belgium: Philippe, Albert
    • Norway: Harald, Haakon, Ingrid Alexandra
    • Spain: Sofia, Felipe
    • Greece: Konstantin
    • Luxembourg: Henri
  • Descendants of both Christian IX and Victoria
    • Denmark: Margrethe, Frederik, Christian, Anne-Marie, and Benedikte
    • Norway: Harald, Haakon, Ingrid Alexandra
    • Spain: Sofia, Felipe
    • Greece: Konstantin

Thanks for playing. Yes, it hurt our brains a little bit, too! Any corrections or changes are welcome.

Random Royaling – Rania
Jordan

Random Royaling – Rania

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Queen Rania rode the purple wave into the opening for the fourth ordinary parliament session in Jordan. She looked good, too. There is enough of a nod to traditional Jordanian dress here to make her look her comfortable self. The dress is by Ellery, the bag is Givenchy and the belt – which makes the ensemble, in my opinion – is by Etro.

Embed from Getty Images

More information about the event, including photos of the King, are at Queen Rania’s Closet. I encourage you, if you have the time, to read The King’s speech.

King Abdullah’s mother, Princess Mona (Muna), was also in attendance. She is to the right of Rania. It’s the first time I have seen this lovely woman, and I wonder why I have been so remiss.

Embed from Getty Images

How do you feel about Rania-in-purple?

Random Royaling – Colorful Clothing from Lesotho, Japan and Jordan
Japan · Jordan · Lesotho

Random Royaling – Colorful Clothing from Lesotho, Japan and Jordan

The HandbagLeave a comment

Note: Due to some scheduling difficulties, the Hall of Fame post on Princess Margaret is scheduled for next week. We did update the Maxima post with her outfit from yesterday, which is a must see.

It’s been raining here for three days and my rain gauge says 4 inches have fallen. It’s getting colder, the six month winter gloom is starting to set in, and, to top it off, starting this weekend it will be dark from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Can you tell I need a shot of colorful clothes worn by beautiful people? In sunny places? I do – let’s go.

A couple of weeks ago in Bits and Bobs, I posted a photo of Princess Senate Seesio of Lesotho, wearing a tiara on her 18th birthday. She has also posted a series of photos from her birthday photo shoot, and I am in love with the blue dress. Also, for those of you who despair of the younger set ever taking up brooches, please note what is pinned to her shoulder.

The princess and her mother, Queen ‘Masenate Mohato Seeiso, posed for a photo on South Africa Heritage Day, held on September 24. It’s an interesting holiday, which is almost unknown in the U.S. The Queen and Princess are wearing traditional basotho blankets in beautiful colors.

Queen Rania is a consistent supporter of agricultural initiatives and, in particular, woman in farming. Recently, she visited the Kufrsoum Agricultural Cooperative Association of Pomegranate Producers. She wore a beautiful black dress, decorated with triangles, traditional in Northern Jordan. She has worn this shawl before, but this time I noticed that it is similar to the ones the women at the co-op are wearing. Maybe one of our community – ahem, Jane Maple – can tell us if it’s a traditional shawl from the region. More at Queen Rania’s Closet.

At the fourth court banquet for the Japanese Emperor’s enthronement, the Empress and princesses wore traditional kimonos. I love what the evening light does for these garments and in particular love the patterns on Princesses Tsuguko and Yoko.

Anyone who is on Twitter, and interested in the Japanese royals, should definitely follow Prisma. She replied to Wendy’s question with some beautiful photos.

Hope the color was what you needed, as well!